The Facility

Villamvihar

Villamvihar

Man of Questions
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Prestige
  5. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
Science-Fiction, Science-Fantasy, Magical Girl, Mystery, Slice of Life,
People think that light protects them from the darkness, that light will always banish evil and that good will ultimately triumph in the end, standing over the corpse of evil. Let them believe so if they wish to do that. But the harsh reality is that evil is everywhere, even in the light that humans like and respect so much. Even in light, there exist creatures that are beyond the understanding of a human mind, not to mention that even light can be deadly, for too much of it corrupts the skin, then the cells making up the body. Light can be evil as well, because too much of it will rob humans of their precious sight, because too much of it will eventually burn everything, setting fire to the heavens. Light and darkness are not that different, after all, but humans never realise that they are almost one and the same.

Therefore, nobody notices when a creature of light, cruel, overwhelming brightness makes its way to a rarely-frequented hotel on the side of a rarely frequented hotel. Nobody notices when the creature takes the form of a human, covered in a white labcoat, his black hair cut short. Nobody notices that the man's dark brown eyes focus on something they should not be even able to see: a woman sitting in the lobby of the hotel. Nobody notices when the man runs far faster than it should be possible, closing the distance to the hotel in mere minutes. Yet everybody notices when a scientist from the nearby facility enters the hotel casually, sighing as he closes the door behind him.

"Today was the hell of hells," mutters the scientist as he looks across the lobby. He sees that the receptionist is not at his place, so he sighs and sits down on an empty chair, his eyes lingering on the woman in the lobby for just a touch too long. "Not only does everything go haywire, my car breaks down in the middle nowhere..." says the scientist out loud, intentionally diverting the attention of the woman to himself.
 
Glenn looks up as a man enters. She curiously walks up to him. "Hello." She says, slinging her purse over her shoulder. "Do you need help?" She asks, giving him a friendly smile, not having any idea of what he really is. Glenn has cream colored skin and dark green eyes and black wavy hair that tumbles past her shoulders. She wears a little makeup, but not as much as some girls do. Her nails are a bright red color.
 
The scientist looks at the woman, and takes in her every detail in great length. Her cream coloured skin, her dark green eyes and her long, black hair are all features that attract him, or more precisely, the creature of blinding light within him, for he has not yet claimed one such as her as his victim. Of course, the poor human, who has named herself Glenn, has no idea what is facing her, and probably mistook the gaze that he gave her as a sign of affection, maybe even a connection. Either way, the scientist has confirmed that she was indeed his target, so he cleared his throat with an audible cough, turning away slightly from the woman to feign embarrassment.

"Yes, I could definitely use some help. My car broke down in the middle of the road from here to the facility," said the scientist, referring to the nearby research laboratory and testing grounds. "I have no idea what the problem is, and my cell phone is completely out of range, so I would really appreciate it if you could tow my car here, so I can easily spend the night," said the scientist, then realised that he had not introduced himself yet. "Oh, by the way, my name is Nüx. Nice to meet you, Glenn," said the scientist, his mouth curving to a smile, watching his prey intently, wondering if she will understand the oh-so-subtle signs. After all, this would not be a fun game without a clever opponent, would it be?
 
"I could call a toe truck for you." She offered. "And drive you myself to the hotel." She said, smiling back. Interesting name. She thought. She had certainly never heard that name before.
 
"That is indeed a good idea," said the scientist, a fake, but believable smile spreading across his face. "But I have left everything in my car, so we will have to go there to get it," continued the scientist, his voice growing a little bit disappointed. Has this woman not noticed the reference he made to what he is a part of? That would be very disappointing, even for a human like her, who knew nothing of his kind and knew nothing of the world she lived in. He wondered if she was really worthy to be the next target, but then shook his head, remembering that games were more fun if the person involved in them did not know the rules. And if this human called Glenn was indeed as clueless as she showed herself to be, she would make for the greatest of all partners.

"So, will you drive me back to my car?" asked the scientist, his smile growing into a confident, but somewhat unnerving grin. "It is about halfway to the facility, so we should be there in about ten minutes," said the scientist, already thinking of the scenarios he would put her into, thinking of how he would shatter her into a million tiny pieces just as he did with all humans before her. It would be so much fun.
 
She returned the smile. "Sure." She agreed. "So are you a doctor then?" She asked suddenly as she showed him the way. "What kind of reasearch do you do?" She wondered, trying to make small talk.
 
"Oh, we do many kinds of research in the facility," said the scientist, his predatory spirit taking over him once again, thinking of new references to make, thinking of new ways to connect the already existing dots so that he could play with her for longer. "One of our main projects is simply called Tartaros, but I am not really supposed to talk about the details. Then we have the smaller side-projects like Gorgon, Scylla and Charybdis, all wonderful in their own right, but of course, highly classified," said the scientist, reducing his smile to a confident smirk that showed he knew what he was talking about, that he immersed himself in thinking about the projects. In reality though, he had already ran countless scenarios in his head involving Glenn, and found the perfect one.

"There is one project that I may share the details of with you, and that is called," said the scientist, making a dramatic pause. "Priamos. Do you want to hear of it, Glenn?" asked the scientist, his mind kicking into overdrive. Which one of the references would this human get? Which one would make her shiver, which one would make her tremble with fear, and most importantly, which one would show her true colours? He did not know, but he could barely contain his excitement.
 
"Sure..." She agreed, just as they got to her car. She opened the passenger side door of her car for him and then got into the driver's side. "So you want to go to your car then? Or the hotel?" She asked, watching him as he got in after her.
 
"Just drive me to my car to get my stuff," said the scientist, disappointed that his prey did not catch any of the references. Still, he was excited about what he would tell her about Priamos and what references he would make to try and initiate the game. Rubbing his hands together, the scientist followed the young woman, all the while thinking about how to form the most chilling, most obvious sign he could from the story of Priamos. As he entered the car after his victim, he finally came up with the answer and cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the woman to himself.

"Sorry, I was thinking on how to summarise it the best. You do know who Priamos, or as he is called in English, Priam was, right?" asked the scientist, but then continued on without waiting for Glenn's answer. "He was the old king of Troy, an old man who was but a victim of his own son, a victim of fate, coincidence and bad luck. Nevertheless, he endured during the Trojan War, and went as far as to beg Achilles to give the body of his other son, Hector, back because the greeks have defiled his corpse. All because Paris chose to fall in love with a woman instead of gaining infinite wisdom from Athene or becoming a conqueror in the name of Hera. Do you follow me so far?"
 
She listened to him as she carefully pulled out of the parking lot. "Yes...I think so." She said as she turned the corner and started down the road. English had never really been her strong suit, nor had history.
 
"You really are not understanding anything that I am talking about, are you?" asked the scientist with a disapproving look in his eyes. "Oh well. It was really nice knowing you, Glenn, but I am afraid that our roads must separate here. You have not even tried to get involved in the game that I tried to play with you, and thus I have deemed you unworthy of being played with," said the scientist, his disguise slowly failing and revealing a creature of blinding, unspeakably horrible, soul-destroying light. The creature existed everywhere but it had no presence at all, it was darkness incarnate, yet it glowed with the terrible white of the sun's heat, it had an infinite amount of eyes, but it possessed none, it was of this world, but clearly not from this plane. It was a pure paradox, an existence that bent the laws of reality and swallowed the world around it, coating Glenn in suffocating, black light.

When she came to, she found herself in a small, incredibly dark room. There seemed to be no doors, air holes, not even a light that helped her to see. It was the darkness in there that somehow ignited itself, giving the room's concrete walls a dark blue tint, if it could be even called a room. Barely three square metres in area and two in height, it was more like a shed than something one would find inside a house.

"So you are awake, Glenn," said a voice that came from everywhere, but was nowhere to be found. "Think fast. Your air will run out in five minutes. I shall be enjoying the hunt."
 
She groaned. What the hell? She could barely move in this cramped trap. How the Hell did she even get here? Well, she could think about that later. Her heart was pounding as she felt around for a way out, her hands trembling from the fear she felt. She hoped it was a nightmare and she would wake up safe and sound in her bed. It took her three of her five minutes to finally bust a door open and fall out into a hallway, fear and adrenaline giving her strenght she didn't know she had.
 
The place Glenn ended up in was even darker than the previous one, provided that was even possible, yet she could still make out the walls. It was as if darkness gave birth to a strange, colourless light which tinted everything completely black, even her own skin, eyes and clothes. The air was thick with a foul smell that infiltrated the poor woman's nostrils and made her gag with disgust as it travelled down her air tract, almost suffocating her. What's more, whenever she made a move, it felt like she was dragging her limbs through some sort of liquid, and every single movement took a lot of energy out of her. However, this was nothing to the barely audible noise she started to hear slowly after she regained her breath.

Crick.

It was like if someone started cracking their fingers and broke them in the process, a sickening, barely audible crick that made Glenn gag again. Luckily for her, though-

Crick.

This time it was much louder. Whatever was making the noise, it was coming closer to her, and by the looks of it, it seemed to approach quickly. However, there seemed to be no way out of the chamber she was in.
 
She looked around her, her heart pounding so loud it was almost drowning out all other sound. Her body shook. She couldn't see but she knew she had to keep moving or die. She took a step forward and felt somethin snare her ankle and lift her skyward. She screamed.
 
The trap worked all too well, coiling around Glenn's legs and suspending her in the air with a rope made out of a strange material that gave off a metallic shine. The helpless woman was now hanging by her left leg without a weapon in sight, and the blood suddenly rushed into her face, making her feel dizzy. When the woman's screams finally subsided, she found that there was nothing else within hearing distance of her, or at least she thought so until she heard that sickening, gut-wrenching noise again, but this time, it was really loud, like if it was right at her ear.

Crick.

This time the noise felt incredibly real, as if somebody was breaking every single bone in their body, but the worst was yet to come, as from the corner of her eyes, Glenn could see someone approaching. It was far too tall to be a human, however, that was all she could make out from this distance.

Crick.

The noise was even louder now, and if possible even horrifying. Eyes widening, Glenn realised that it was connected directly to the shadow that was approaching her: Whenever one of its four legs touched the ground, the sound echoed across the room, turning her stomach upside-down.

Crick.

The figure came into full view with that horrifying, last crick. It was a horse, its rider sitting on it, both of them covered in rotting pieceds of cloth and rusted armour, both of them only kept together by their own willpower as they were made out of bones, nothing more.
 
She screamed again, sure she was going to die. She knew her ankle had been cut because of the wire that had snared her. She had to get free. She couldn't see a thing though. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest from fear and adrenaline. The wire was tight around her ankle, keeping her suspended. God why did she diserve this? She wondered, trying to figure out what to do. She whimpered in fear, not wanting to die in this place.
 
The skeleton rider on his horse continued on relentlessly towards the helpless woman, revealing even more of their gruesome features. What's more, as they closed the distance, the number of sickening cricks increased, sometimes culminating in a much louder, stronger crack that sounded as if someone broke every single bone in their body at once. Whenever that happened, the skeleton knight stopped for a few seconds, then continued its journey, dragging out the already uncomfortably long execution of Glenn, giving the woman way too much time to think of what would happen when the knight reached her. The strange being only stopped when it came face to face with her, its high horse giving it the advantage of height. It then took its sword out from its scabbard, raised his hand and then...

The rope snapped as the sword cut it, and Glenn fell right into the skeleton knight's hands, who glanced on her, then hopped off from his horse, and finally put her down carefully on the floor. Inspecting its work, the skeleton knight pointed to the ground, towards a plate that was slightly lighter than the others, then pointed to the rope that was still hanging onto Glenn's ankle. Nodding, the skeleton knight put its scabbard back into its place, climbed back onto his horse, then started making his way back into the darkness.
 
Glenn sighed in relief and managed to get the wire rope free of her ankle, though there was a good cut on it and bleeding. She watched the skeleton knight disappear, sure that it had been scent to kill her. With shaking hands she picked up the sheild that it had pointed at and paused against a wall to regain her breath, trying to ignore her throbbing ankle. She was frightened to move, but she had to find a way out. Once she thought she could muster the nerve to move again, she did, slowly inching her way along the walls, keeping her sheild held against her.
 
There was seemingly no way out of the room. All the walls seemed to be the same, without a single spot on them that could identify a secret passage, or a button. What's more, as time passed in the huge room, the walls seemed to become darker and darker by the minute, not to mention that Glenn was beginning to have trouble seeing. The thick, self-igniting darkness seemed to retire, giving way to true, black darkness, but that did not help her cause as the black light actually helped her navigate. Soon, she was going in circles and it was not long before real darkness completely took her sense of sight away. It was as if she was walking with her eyes closed, but she knew she had them open.

"It seems like you have trouble seeing," said a disembodied voice that Glenn found familiar for some reason. "Let me fix that for you, my dear victim," said the voice, and suddenly, a bright flash lit the room, almost blinding the poor woman. When her eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, they found themselves inexplicably drawn towards the figure in the center of the room. He looked like a normal human, but there was something... off about him. Perhaps it was his too symmetrical face or his limbs that were perfect in length, yet looked both too short and too long for his height, or maybe it was his smile that made Glenn froze in her place.

"Oh? Maybe you will be worth playing with after all," said the strange man, his smile slowly becoming wider than his own head.
 
Her eyes widened and anger suddenly gave her strength. "Why you..." She let out a stream of insults and swung the sheild at him. "Let me out of here." She growled, and swung at him again.
 
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